Jason Collins about to sign 10 day contract with Nets expected to start tonight vs Lakers

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I don't get the anger at him for wanting to play, or the anger at the Nets for a "publicity stunt" that, for all I can see, was done for basketball reasons.

I must've missed the "anger" part here. I think this is a PR stunt by the Nets and well NBA for that matter(we had Adam Silver say he wanted the NBA to surpass the NFL) and this is at least one area they can say they did.

I also don't think he's a good enough player to warrant the attention of a PC for signing a 10 day contract. The focal point is on his sexual orientation not his actual skills which Trader Joe aptly pointed out are rather lacking. However that isn't the focal point his orientation is which was expected.

If the media purports wanting Jason Collins to be treated like everyone else they should treat him like everyone else who signs a 10 day contract trying to get a spot on the team.

Very likely, dozens of NBA players are gay, and very likely >5% of NBA players throughout history have been gay, considering >5% of the population is gay (though the estimate varies widely, 3% up to 10%, the Kinsey estimate).

It's great that Jason had the courage to come out and that the Nets had the courage to consider him to fill a need on their injury-depleted bench. Will he produce more than Andrew Bynum? Maybe, though Bynum obviously has more talent when healthy.

I don't get the anger at him for wanting to play, or the anger at the Nets for a "publicity stunt" that, for all I can see, was done for basketball reasons.

Seems obvious that people are angry because they "don't care." They really, really, really "don't care" about this.

It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

Jason Collins hasn't played in over 50 games since 2008 and hasn't averaged over 2PPG since 2007. He is a career 41% field goal shooter and he is 7 feet tall. He has never averaged over 1 BPG in any season.

He is not a good basketball player.

Symbolically it is great, but why on earth the Nets signed him I have no idea. I honestly don't think it's because he's gay, I just think it's Jason Kidd giving a friend a job.

He's an enforcer/hard fouler/borderline dirty player. He always has been. In other words, they just traded Reggie Evans and replaced him with Jason Collins. And Collins is known for being a good teammate/professional.

I don't get why people find the signing annoying, or ill-deserving of being recognized as socially significant..

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).
I'm (maybe) back after being repetedly banned, merely for supporting a different NFL team than do certain forum moderators.

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I don't get why people find the signing annoying, or ill-deserving of being recognized as socially significant..

I get why for some its socially significant and if people want to take pride in that its fine.

However when they start comparing him to Jackie Robinson I'm going to have to disagree especially since Jason Collins has a 10+ career in the league before he came out. He was a scrub before he came out and still a scrub now. His orientation is irrelevant.

Jackie Robinson was a great baseball player who just happened to be black but he had to fight to play baseball, deal with all kinds of abuse just to play and while he was playing. Jason Collins isn't fortunately dealing with that at all. He was a great baseball player regardless of his skin color.

Its not like he was portrayed as this icon he lived it.

The media is talking both sides of their mouth here they claim they want Jason Collins to be treated like everyone else and yet they don't. Him being gay is the focal point not him being a basketball player first.

this guy has been out of commission for the past couple of years and now he comes out and he gets signed.

Nope, wrong, he played for Boston last year. He's a 12-year veteran big man who played with KG and Pierce last year, signed to a 10-day contract after the trade deadline by a team with big-man depth problems. Not exactly a shocking move.

The guy averages a couple points per game I don't know about you but that isn't very good to most people. The only thing he really had going for him athletic wise is that he's 7 ft tall and can pickup fouls.

Wow sounds a lot like the type of guy who might be... I don't know... signed to a 10-day contract after the trade deadline?

I care because there are more talented players out there that don't have the same name recognition aren't getting a shot

I proved to you earlier that this is false, but of course you ignored my post. It bears repeating though: The Nets had 2 roster spots open before this. After Collins signs they still have another roster spot open. No player is out of a job because of this signing.

Polls show that perhaps 20-30% of Americans very much dislike or even HATE gay people because... well, just because they do. Not 20-30% of intelligent, educated people, but it's still a lot of people.

That is the one and only basis for anyone comparing the situations of Jason and Jackie. That aspect is not that hard to understand.

Last edited by Slick Pinkham; 02-24-2014 at 10:03 AM.

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).
I'm (maybe) back after being repetedly banned, merely for supporting a different NFL team than do certain forum moderators.

Gee I don't know the fact that the media is making a big deal about him being signed to a 10 day contract and he's openly gay. That he had a press conference over it. I mean if he's going to be treated like every other player with a 10 day contract he would just let his game do the talking and leave it at that.

This sums it up for me

Ironic how the media says it is intent on not making Jason Collins a sideshow act, but they are doing exactly that.

Gee I don't know the fact that the media is making a big deal about him being signed to a 10 day contract and he's openly gay. That he had a press conference over it. I mean if he's going to be treated like every other player with a 10 day contract he would just let his game do the talking and leave it at that.

This sums it up for me

Ironic how the media says it is intent on not making Jason Collins a sideshow act, but they are doing exactly that.
— Dennis Silva II (@densilva2) February 24, 2014

You completely ignored the part I put in bold. You said "they claim they want Jason Collins to be treated like everyone else and yet they don't." I asked for a quote. Not only did you not provide a quote, you ignored my actual question.

Collins doesn't want to be treated any differently ON THE COURT, as well as in how he's treated by the NBA.

What you've been constantly confusing in this thread is treatment of Collins by the league and by the media. These are two separate things. The league should treat Collins like any other 12 year veteran with his skill set. That's been the problem with many sports leagues up until now, they haven't drafted, scouted or signed gay players like they have straight players.

Treatment BY THE MEDIA is entirely different. The press conference and media coverage don't have anything to do with what I and I think others have been arguing: Collins is good enough to play in the league on a ten day contract. You've denied that it's true but your only response is a critique of the media.

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People who care about the fight for equality give a "rat's butt." Hopefully, in the not so near future, this won't have to be treated like a huge event. It needs to be now though. When it is still societally acceptable to some people to express that they think homosexuality is a "wrong choice," people need to be informed. A public figure being the first athlete in all of American professional sports to come out, and then play, is a very big deal. Hopefully more figures start to come out, and then society can start accepting as a whole. Racism still exists, yes, but in general, most people know that it is absolutely not ok to be racist, or make racist statements out in public. Homophobic statements are still made with extreme regularity, and although societies acceptance has begun to increase, there is still a long way to go.

There is no NBA player named Monte Ellis.

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Polls show that perhaps 20-30% of Americans very much dislike or even HATE gay people because... well, just because they do. Not 20-30% of intelligent, educated people, but it's still a lot of people.

That is the one and only basis for anyone comparing the situations of Jason and Jackie. That aspect is not that hared to understand.

It's a staple of the Internet: Someone makes a comparison, then numerous people complain because they see the comparison either as an alleged EQUATION, or otherwise that, by comparing two things, the original poster is saying they're 'almost the same'. It's a frustrating phenomenon that I see over, and over, and over again online. Ugh.

I'm sick of a lot of media stories but they never make me want to throw up. Why are you so disgusted by this one?

It's not this one , it is the constant media love-fest with the whole gay agenda...

I believe to each their own, and everyone should have the same rights... But , if I don't like something I consider to be abhorrent (sp?) and sickening , I am forced to have to either like it , or keep my mouth shut for fear of persecution of being considered a homophobe.. And sorry I won't condone sodomy in any form, nor promote it..

"They want to be famous. We want to be champions. They want to be rappers and backup dancers. We want to play football." - T.J. Ward, Denver Broncos

It's not this one , it is the constant media love-fest with the whole gay agenda...

I believe to each their own, and everyone should have the same rights... But , if I don't like something I consider to be abhorrent (sp?) and sickening , I am forced to have to either like it , or keep my mouth shut for fear of persecution of being considered a homophobe.. And sorry I won't condone sodomy in any form, nor promote it..

I don't think the Mods want this to go in the direction it is heading, but I will just say this. Your post strongly contradicts itself.

I find it fascinating that homosexuality was considered a mental illness up until the mid-1970's, when pressure from activists -- not scientific research -- forced it to be redefined. Perhaps scientists are right and activists are wrong. Just a thought.

As for Collins, he's a horrific basketball player (and a less than great human being). I find it hard to believe a team is signing him for his play, but these are the Nets, and they do make crappy moves, so maybe this is just their latest one.

Lastly, people aren't making as much a big deal out of Collins as they are the influx of media coverage for it all. There's going to be a natural backlash to so much media overkill of an event most people consider no big deal. People are smart enough to realize that the historical importance of this event is largely manufactured nonsense.

I find it fascinating that homosexuality was considered a mental illness up until the mid-1970's, when pressure from activists -- not scientific research -- forced it to be redefined. Perhaps scientists are right and activists are wrong. Just a thought.

so you've finally found something to agree with scientists about, huh?

It's a staple of the Internet: Someone makes a comparison, then numerous people complain because they see the comparison either as an alleged EQUATION, or otherwise that, by comparing two things, the original poster is saying they're 'almost the same'. It's a frustrating phenomenon that I see over, and over, and over again online. Ugh.

It's definitely not just the internet. The problem is that an analogy is one of the most powerful ways to get a point across and at the same time one of the easiest to ridicule if you take one step too far, ie "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

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I find it fascinating that homosexuality was considered a mental illness up until the mid-1970's, when pressure from activists -- not scientific research -- forced it to be redefined. Perhaps scientists are right and activists are wrong. Just a thought.

As for Collins, he's a horrific basketball player (and a less than great human being). I find it hard to believe a team is signing him for his play, but these are the Nets, and they do make crappy moves, so maybe this is just their latest one.

Lastly, people aren't making as much a big deal out of Collins as they are the influx of media coverage for it all. There's going to be a natural backlash to so much media overkill of an event most people consider no big deal. People are smart enough to realize that the historical importance of this event is largely manufactured nonsense.

I find it fascinating that up until the 1960's, it was completely societally acceptable to separate human beings based on the color of their skin. Luckily, people realized how asinine that idea truly was and fought to change it.

You know what else people thought? Smoking did no damage to you're lungs.

You know what else people thought? The idea of creating something that could prevent you from getting a certain type of disease isn't possible.

The whole basis of science is that is constantly evolving......How can you possibly argue some 40 year old Scientific theory by people who clearly didn't know what they were talking about?

There is no NBA player named Monte Ellis.

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so you've finally found something to agree with scientists about, huh?

I always side with the evidence (data). Sometimes scientists get it right, and sometimes they let external, unscientific factors bias their interpretation of said data. That's the unfortunate huge, gaping hole in science.